Pruning Milkweed

[ButterflyLdy]

I read an article about pruning your milkweed plants. Apparently the monarch cats like it better. Has anyone tried this or know much about pruning milkweed?
bec

[GBMonarch]

I asked the same question last year and was told that trimming the plants back to about six inches worked well. So I've been trimming mine back and also pinching back the young month old plants so they branch out. All of this does help to keep the tender leaves the monarchs like to lay eggs on.

A good rule of thumb is when you stop seeing eggs on the plants it's time to trim. Watch out for any cats on the plants though, I did find a few that were really good at hiding!

[James Price]

Pruning and pinching back milkweed is fine and does promote a bushier plant with more tender leaves that attract laying females. But don't overdo it if you want flowers and, eventually, fertile seed pods. Most milkweeds have a flowering period, and if you pinch off the budding tips they may not flower well or will flower too late to form viable seed. Pinching once early and a second time above the flower stalks might be a good compromise.

[John Beaulieu]

Last summer at a Monarch Teacher Network workshop in Hartford, Conn. we had a field trip to a members home. She had let milkweed growing in selected areas of her lawn. On one side of the house (left pic), she mowed the milkweed once (early July I think) which gave her fresh re-sprouted plants mid-summer, and on the other side of the house, the milkweed was left to mature, providing flowers and seed pods (right pic).



John

[freda]

I did begin cutting off the tops of the plants to force side shoots and it seems to be working ok. We've now cut off all the LEAVES too, to feed the cats indoors. With our 86 crysalids taped to our cage, we still have 50 or so cats nearing pupation. And 6 newly hatched babies.

Your photos showed very healthy, intact milkweed leaves. Do you have another patch elsewhere that you use to feed your caterpillars? We're just running SO short of leaves that I don't know how we can plan better for next year. Our indoor rearing has been so successful, starting with just eggs, that the demand for leaves is greater than our supply. The cats in the garden are eating up their share.

Re-reading the conversation about pruning the plants, I don't know how we could have pinched them back any more than I have done, as the eggs were deposited on a great many of the plants when they were only 6" high. But I guess the earlier they're pinched back, the more they will branch out. I've entered all these directions in my 08 calendar.

[John Beaulieu]

That is not our plants in the photo (it's at a workshop in CT). I do grow many milkweeds (mostly common, swamp, and tuberosa) which is for nectaring and egglaying... for feeding large numbers of caterpillars, we use a nearby wild patch.

We are lucky to have a good patch by a creek, only about 2k from home. The creek keeps it fairly moist, even with our high temps and drought this summer. Right now, the freshest plants are those that have resprouted from an early summer cutting along the roadside.

John